1. Field of the Disclosure
The present invention relates to a refrigerator which can sanitize foods stored in a storage compartment effectively, with storing foods in a relatively low temperature, and which can keep the storage compartment clean.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In general, a refrigerator is an electric appliance which enables low temperature storage for foods to maintain freshness of various foods for a long time. The refrigerator controls a state of cold air to freeze or refrigerate the stored foods based on states of the foods.
The cold air supplied to the inside of such the refrigerator is generated by heat exchange with refrigerant. While a cycle composed of compression, condensation, expansion and evaporation is performed repeatedly, the cold air is supplied to the inside of the refrigerator constantly. The supplied refrigerant is transported to the inside of the refrigerator uniformly by convection, to store the foods put in the refrigerator at a desired temperature.
The refrigerator may be categorized, based on a structure of freezer and refrigerator compartments formed therein, into a traditional top freezer type refrigerator, a side by side type refrigerator and a bottom freezer type refrigerator.
The traditional top freezer type refrigerator includes a freezer compartment located at a top and a refrigerator compartment located at a bottom. The side by side type refrigerator includes freezer and refrigerator compartments arranged side by side.
The bottom freezer type refrigerator has been popular in North America and Europe recently and it includes a freezer compartment located at a top, with a larger capacity, and a refrigerator compartment located at a bottom.
In the meanwhile, the refrigerator includes a case having at least one storage compartment provided therein for the low storage and a door rotatably coupled to the case to open and close the storage compartment selectively.
The storage compartment of the refrigerator is typically partitioned into the freezer compartment and the refrigerator compartment. In a rear area of such the storage compartment may be provided an evaporator which generated cold air by heat-exchanging between refrigerant and internal air of the storage compartment and a fan which blows the internal air into the evaporator to blow the heat-exchanged cold air to the storage compartment.
Recently, various functions are added to the refrigerator to make a user use it conveniently. To realize the functions there may be provided a home bar capable of receiving or keeping a predetermined amount of foods or food containers in the door or a plurality of baskets located in a rear surface of the door.
Not only vegetables and fruits but also meats, fish and various food materials and cooked foods can be stored in such the refrigerator. Unless the storage compartment is cleaned periodically, unpleasant smell might be generated in the various foods stored in the storage compartment and the refrigerator might be full of the unpleasant smell. Also, fungus, bacteria and viruses might reproduce quickly to deteriorate sanitation and to give the user an unpleasant feeling.
Bacteria generated in one of the foods spread to the other foods or they are moving in the refrigerator along the circulation of the cold air. Because of that, the sanitary condition inside the refrigerator might be poor disadvantageously.